Opinion
October 27, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lawrence Tonetti, J.).
The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion for a mistrial, since the witness's response about a series of other robberies that had been committed was cut off in midstream and, in any event, was not linked to defendant in particular ( see, People v. Coursey, 250 A.D.2d 351 lv denied 92 N.Y.2d 850). Moreover, defense counsel explicitly informed the court that he did not wish to have a curative instruction issued, and defendant's complaint that the witness had acted in "bad faith" is unsubstantiated.
The court's instructions concerning credibility and identification, when viewed as a whole, conveyed the proper principles, including the People's burden of proof with respect to the reliability of the identification testimony.
The court properly admitted limited testimony concerning the complainant's viewing of a photo array since, under the circumstances, the defense opened the door to this matter ( People v. Straker, 247 A.D.2d 266).
Concur — Milonas, J. P., Ellerin, Wallach and Tom, JJ.